Just over three quarters of Tasmanians aged 18 years and over believed that their neighbourhood had some crime or public nuisance problems, according to the results of an October 1998 Tasmanian Community Safety Survey released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The most commonly identified problems were housebreaking, dangerous/noisy driving and theft from motor vehicles.

Almost all (96.7%) Tasmanians aged 18 and over believed there was a chance that their home could be broken into, with 84.3% either worried or very worried at the prospect of this.

The survey also showed that 95.5% believed there was a chance that their home or motor vehicle could be subject to unlawful damage and that 90.5% thought they were at risk of being attacked or threatened by a stranger.

Concern about the safety of public places at night was also expressed, particularly by victims of a crime. An estimated 86.3% (40,300) of those who had experienced victimisation believed public toilets to be unsafe and 82.5% (38,500) perceived parks to be unsafe. Other public places commonly perceived to be unsafe by victims of crime included car parks (73.0%), bus terminals, bus malls and bus stops (65.5%) and shopping centres and shopping malls (64.2%).

Almost 60.9% (207,900) of Tasmanians aged 18 years and over had been the victim of some sort of crime. House breakings (26.0%) and motor vehicle breakings (25.9%) were most commonly experienced, while 12.1% (21,200) of females aged 18 and over had been victims of sexual assault.

Further details are in Community Safety, Tasmania, October 1998 (cat. no. 4515.6) available from ABS bookshops.

Unless otherwise noted, content on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Australia Licence together with any terms, conditions and exclusions as set out in the website Copyright notice. For permission to do anything beyond the scope of this licence and copyright terms contact us.